disney's animation inn and suites?

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loveisstaticAdmin

Posts : 713Join date : 2009-03-03Age : 33

Subject: disney's animation inn and suites? May 28th 2009, 07:40

i found this on jim hill's site. whatcha think?

Quote :

Okay. I know. This is a really tough time to be a Disney World fan. Especially with last week's news about how advance reservations for the Resort were 'way down and WDW officials were already getting ready for what looked to be an incredibly lean 2009.

But -- you know -- it's not always going to be like this. At some point in the future, the current credit crunch is going to ease up. And -- when that does happen -- the Walt Disney World Resort wants to be ready to cash in all of those returning tourists.

"And how exactly is WDW going to do that?," you ask. "What sort of preparations is the Mouse making for when the economy recovers?" Well, how many of you remember that Fabs Rocks! story that I linked to a week or so back? The one where Shelly Smith talked about the Imagineers' plans for that long-uncompleted Legendary Years portion of Disney's Pop Century Resort.

These units have been left open & unfinished since construction stopped in 2002Photo by Jeff Lange

Alright. Now take that bit of info and then fold in this intriguing tidbit from TouringPlans.com. Which posted the following back on November 8th :"A permit was recently filed by the mouse for the installation of a model room somewhere on property for 'Disney's Animation Inn and Suites.' "

Here's some links to the permit in question (grr, the link he gave didn't work). Now allow me to connect the dots for you. The Legendary Years redo that Fab Rocks! wrote about and that model room rumor that TouringPlans.com posted are all part of the same project. Which involves retheming / rebranding all of Pop Century so that it then can become a new family-friendly Resort, Disney's Animation Inn and Suites.

These statues will be part of the on-site theming that survives when Pop Century Resort is rebranded as Disney's Animation Inn and Suites. Copyright Disney. All Rights Reserved

"And why would Disney do something like that?," you ask. Well, to be blunt, in the nearly five years that the Classic Years portion of Disney's Pop Century has been open, this Value Resort has never been able to maintain the same sort of steady high occupancy rate that Disney's All-Stars typically enjoy (Those three Value Resorts regularly experience occupancy rates of 95% and higher. Whereas Pop Century's occupancy rate is typically stuck in the 80s). Which WDW management blames -- in large part -- on Pop Century's unappealing theme.

As one Disney Parks & Resorts insider recently told me:

"Baby boomers may think that it's cool to see a huge can of Play-Doh or a giant Big Wheel. But these oversized icons had zero appeal for their parents or their children.

Copyright 2002 Disney. All Rights Reserved

It was a mistake for us to theme an entire Resort around pop culture. Especially since so many people associate the Disney name with such timeless classics like 'Snow White' and 'Pinocchio.' By rebranding this Resort as Disney's Animation Inn and Suites, we'll hopefully be able to significantly broaden the appeal of this Value Resort. Make it the sort of place that Guests of all ages will enjoy staying at. Not just baby boomers."

Now keep in mind that just because Walt Disney World has filed the permits necessary to construct a 2500 square-foot model room for Disney's Animation Inn and Suites doesn't automatically mean that this Resort is a "Go." Mind you, it's a very good sign. Disney Parks & Resorts typically doesn't build a model room unless that proposed new Resort is fairly far along in the approval process. But it still doesn't mean that Animation Inn and Suites has been given a green light.

"And why exactly does Disney Parks & Resorts construct these model rooms?," you query. So that Mouse House execs can see what a typical room at this proposed new Resort will look like before they then sign off on its construction. Back in Michael Eisner's day ... Well, Uncle Mike personally inspected each of the test units that Disney's development team built for these proposed new Resorts. In some cases, he even stayed overnight in the model room.

Model room for Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge. Photo by Jeff Lange

Getting back to today's topic ... Just because Disney builds a model room doesn't then mean that that proposed Resort is now on the fast track for construction. Take -- for example -- the photo above. Which shows the model room that was built for Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge.

Pretty cool looking, don't you think? But please note what's in the background of that shot. Which is the model room that Disney Parks & Resorts had built for the All-Star Music. Complete with giant maraca.

Given that there were seven years that separated the opening of that Value Resort and when Animal Kingdom Lodge officially opened its doors ... Well, you can now see that sometimes there's some pretty serious lag time between when the model room for a proposed new Resort is built and when construction actually begins.

Which brings us back to start of today's story. As is: When is the economy going to recover?

Well, you'll know when the Walt Disney Company thinks that the current credit crunch is over. And that's when you see the Mouse greenlighting the retheming / rebranding of Disney's Pop Century Resort.

This super-sized version of Tramp is expected to survive Pop Century's transition to Disney's Animation Inn and Suites. Copyright Disney. All Rights Reserved

So think of Disney's Animation Inn & Suites as the canary in the coal mine. A strong indicator of when the worst of the bad times are over. At least in Mickey's eyes. When this radically reworked Value Resort (Which Company insiders feel will be a guaranteed moneymaker right from the get-go. And may even allow WDW to eventually reclassify this hotel complex as a Moderate Resort) finally comes off the drawing board and then enters its construction phase, that's when Disney believes that the economy is getting ready to rebound.

Your thoughts?

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doug always and always. =)

WalkonPoohAdmin

Posts : 745Join date : 2009-03-03Age : 36

Subject: Re: disney's animation inn and suites? May 30th 2009, 06:32

I hope not before we get there, but maybe when we take Brooke and Brittany we could stay there. When you and I go I want to go check out the creepy abandoned version.